


the five times Lee Donghyuck was chased out (and the one time he got his revenge)

by mynonexistentbiaslist



Series: 5+1 Dreamies [2]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: 5+1 Fic, 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - High School, Chenle appeared guys!, Crack, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, I Tried, M/M, Taeyong is mentioned but doesn’t appear, The Author Regrets Nothing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-13
Updated: 2018-11-22
Packaged: 2019-08-23 04:04:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16611599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mynonexistentbiaslist/pseuds/mynonexistentbiaslist
Summary: Donghyuck loves his best friend, Na Jaemin, and Jaemin’s boyfriend Lee Jeno.He really does.At least, that’s what he tells himself when Jeno and Jaemin ignore him for the nth time that week in favour of being gross with each other.—————————————————————Alternatively: Donghyuck annoys Mark into liking him





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi it’s me again, back with the markhyuck sequel as promised! I changed some of the formatting now that I better understand ao3’s way of posting stuff so yeah. Hope it’s better now.
> 
> You don’t have to read the previous story to understand this one, but it would make some parts clearer so I suggest doing so?
> 
> I accidentally made this way too long for a one shot so I have a second part which is literally just ot7 shannigans so expect that in about a week or so.
> 
> I was going to post this like a month earlier but school was being a bitch and all the holiday homework and stuff so yeah. Then the dreamies kept doing new stuff and I had to change some parts so. It’s late. I’m sorry. Feel free to yell at me about that.
> 
> But anyway it’s out so I won’t bore you with my rambling! 
> 
> Enjoy!

Donghyuck loves his best friend, Na Jaemin, and Jaemin’s boyfriend Lee Jeno.

 

He really does.

 

At least, that’s what he tells himself when Jeno and Jaemin ignore him for the nth time that week in favour of being gross with each other.

 

Jeno had appeared in their dorm, again, for a ‘school project’ apparently. 

 

Donghyuck hadn’t known that school projects included making out with your boyfriend, especially when his roommate was in the room.

 

_ I set them up, and this is how they repay me?  _ Donghyuck huffs angrily to himself.  _ These ungrateful brats. _

 

He conveniently ignores the fact that Jeno was older than him, and that Jaemin probably had done most of the seducing work with his smile and awkward personality.

 

The two said lovebirds in front of him were currently feeding each other chocolate coated strawberries,  _ how cliché, I know right. _

 

“I’m still here, you know?” Donghyuck groaned, dragging his hand over his eyes. He peeks out from between his fingers and catches Jaemin popping yet another strawberry into his boyfriend’s mouth. He regrets all his life choices leading up to this moment. He should have ran far, far away from college and lived as a monk in the Himalayas instead.

 

“If I had know you were going to be this disgusting I wouldn’t have helped get you two together.” Donghyuck sniffs, pouting. He feels like such a third wheel in the face of Jeno and Jaemin’s couple-ness. He’s a lonely boy in need of love too, okay? He can’t believe his best friend somehow managed to get a boyfriend before him.

 

“We’re not that disgusting.” Jaemin sticks his tongue out childishly. Jeno at least had the decency to blush and look embarrassed, bless him.

 

A few more minutes pass of Jeno and Jaemin taking turns feeding each other strawberries and kissing before Donghyuck finally snapped.

 

“I can’t stay here any longer or I’ll go insane.” Donghyuck declares. He can’t stand them.

 

“Where’re you gonna go?” Jeno asks curiously. He’s eating a strawberry. He obviously doesn’t care for Donghyuck’s well-being at all. Donghyuck needs new friends, and preferably ones that aren’t dating each other.

 

“Is Renjun or Jisung free?” Donghyuck hums, checking his texts.

 

Renjun has class, and Jisung wasn’t willing to let him come over. Typical teenagers. Watch him ever do anything nice to help them again.

 

“My dorm’s free,” Jeno suggests. “I came over to your dorm, so you should be allowed to go over to my dorm.”

 

“Damn straight.” Donghyuck agrees. At this point his dorm is probably more Jaemin and Jeno’s dorm than Jaemin and Donghyuck’s dorm.

 

“Isn’t Mark back?” Jaemin points out. Jeno frowns. 

 

“Yeah but you know Mark. You met him when we had that unofficial gathering a few weeks ago, so it’s fine.”

 

Donghyuck does in fact remember meeting Mark. He’s pretty sure he just insulted his name a few times and found out that he was from Canada.

 

“Anything’s better than you two,” Donghyuck shudders, grabbing his phone and bag. He may finally be able to get some homework done. “Mark will have to deal with it.”

 

“You’re only saying that because you think Mark’s cute.” Jaemin teases. He’s stopped eating strawberries, turning around to give Donghyuck a very good imitation of the eyes emoji. Jaemin winks. 

 

“So what if I think Mark’s cute?” Donghyuck scrunches his nose. He rolls his eyes at Jaemin’s elated squeals at his admitting that Mark Lee was cute.

 

Because it was true. Mark Lee, the human embodiment of a puppy, was most definitely the cutest boy Donghyuck had the pleasure of laying his eyes on since, well, forever. He’s pretty sure anyone who’s ever met Mark would one hundred percent agree with him. Look at his face, it’s impossible not to love that face.

 

It doesn’t matter anyway. Donghyuck just thinks that Mark is cute, like any sane person would. It’s not like they were going to run off into the sunset and get a Vegas wedding now that Donghyuck has confessed he thinks Mark is a tiny bit good looking. It’s no big deal.

 

“Whatever, loser.” Donghyuck stalks towards the door. The faster he gets out, the better.

 

“See you!” Jaemin grins evilly. Donghyuck flips him off.

 

_ Off to Jeno and Mark’s, I guess. _

  
  
  


*

  
  
  


1: Chocolate coated strawberries

 

The door to Mark and Jeno’s dorm slams open, shaking the entire room and probably the entire building and the surrounding buildings within a ten kilometre radius.

 

Mark jolts up from his place on the sofa, book landing on the ground with a muffled ‘thump’.

 

“Jeno? Oh my god, was that an earthquake? I didn’t know we had earthquakes here-”

 

“Nope, it’s me, bitch.” Donghyuck announced, throwing his stuff onto the table top. He hears a loud clattering sound coming from the inside and vaguely wonders if that was his computer crashing and shattering into a thousand pieces. It probably wasn’t.

 

Hopefully.

 

Mark sits up on the sofa, large eyes staring awkwardly at Donghyuck while one hand gropes around on the table for what Donghyuck assumes to be a bookmark.

 

A few seconds of blind feeling around pass. Donghyuck takes pity on the shell-shocked boy and gestures to the small, rectangular pink piece of plastic. Mark’s hand finally closes around it. He bookmarks his page and sets the book onto the table.

 

A minute of staring passes. Donghyuck can almost hear Jeno and Jaemin being gross from here at the rate they were going. Trust Mark Lee to be awkward in his own dorm.

 

The silence was getting more and more deafening by the second, which is ironic, so Donghyuck decides to be the one to break it.

 

“What?” Donghyuck snipes. “Never seen a pretty boy before?”

 

Mark’s cheeks turn red so quickly it was almost funny. Scratch that ‘almost’, it was hilarious. Donghyuck has never known a human could turn that colour in such a short time. 

 

_ I wouldn’t mind seeing that face again soon. _

 

Looking scarily similar to a fire truck, Mark shook his head quickly and coughed a few times to clear his throat.

 

“Ah, Donghyuck right? Jaemin’s friend?”

 

“Is that all I mean to you?” Donghyuck fake-pouted, secretly enjoying the flustered looks this gets from Mark.  _ Seriously, this guy is the human embodiment of Panicked Gay. Why is he like this.  _ “Mark! I thought we had something special!”

 

“I- what- no!” Mark stutters, pulling a cushion up from the couch to hug tightly to his chest, looking very much like he would love to pull it up a bit higher to cover his face. Or better yet, get swallowed by the ground.

 

“Joking, Canada, chill out.” Donghyuck chuckles, turning to his bag. After careful inspection, his computer is fine and his textbooks, sadly, are also fine.

 

_ Can’t wait to light those on fire when I finish school. _

 

He hears Mark mumbling to himself behind him, which is a little bit weird but strangely endearing.

 

“Canada?”

 

“Yeah, that’s my new nickname for you, because you come from Canada,” Donghyuck raises an eyebrow. But because he’s nice — mostly because he doesn’t want to hurt Mark’s feelings but no one has to know that — he asks for permission. “You okay with that?”

 

Mark swallows. “Yeah! Yeah, I’m okay with that.” He says, tugging on a strand of hair.

 

Now that they’ve cleared up that matter and Donghyuck was sure that Mark wouldn’t be crying into his pillow every night thanks to Donghyuck’s nickname for him, his stomach alerts him to a more pressing issue — the fact that he hadn’t had any food for hours.

 

_ New plan, I need fuel. _

 

“What are you doing?” Mark asks, watching as Donghyuck rummages through the fridge with a ferocity that rivaled a pack of wolves. It was more likely a rabbit or a hamster searching for food in its empty food bowl but Donghyuck likes to imagine.

 

_ The fridge is probably ninety percent food Jaemin made for Jeno anyway, Mark won’t give a shit if he steals something to eat. _

 

“Jaemin and Jeno were being disgusting in the dorms so I had to escape here,” Donghyuck explains, pulling out a yogurt cup and squinting at the expiry date.  _ Oof, a week ago. Gross. Mark might be cute but he is messy.  _ He throws the cup into the bin. “Can’t they be disgusting here instead?”

 

“Your place has nicer carpets?” Mark offers, turning back to his book. He’s calmed down a little from his initial meltdown and is treating Donghyuck less like an exotic animal and more like a friend. He’s also most likely given up on trying to shoo Donghyuck out too, not that he was even trying in the first place. Donghyuck appreciates that.

 

Another minute passes, Mark reading quietly and Donghyuck still searching fruitlessly for something edible that isn’t Jaemin’s homemade food. He’d like to keep his head and body intact, thank you very much. He wouldn’t dare eat anything Jaemin made for Jeno.

 

“Why the fuck is your kitchen empty?” Donghyuck groans, slamming the door shut. The room vibrates for the second time that day. Residents all around the city desperately check their phones for updates about the earthquake. All the scientists in the world are currently trying to find the source of the mysterious tremors.

 

“Language.” Mark comments lightly, but just shrugs and continues reading.

 

_ Dumbass,  _ Donghyuck thinks. He’s shocked to find that it’s fond.

 

“Just go out and buy something if you’re so hungry.”

 

“I’m broke.” Donghyuck mutters, checking his wallet. The inside of the wallet sticks its tongue out at him, its barren wasteland jeering his bad life choices. He regrets all the times he agreed to treat Jaemin to lunch and that chocolate bar he bought yesterday. Whatever happened to being a responsible spender?

 

“I could lend you some money, if you want?” Mark throws out, unaware of the effect this could have on people who are weak to actual angels, like Donghyuck and most others with brains.

 

“Are you serious?” Donghyuck yelps, because no way someone could be that nice. There was no way, not without some kind of catch. Too many pranks from Jaemin has resulted in this distrust of niceness,  _ thanks a fucking lot Na Jaemin _ .

 

_ That reminds me though, he still owes me for that date I set him up on with Jeno. _

 

“Why not?” Mark shrugs, already taking out his wallet. Donghyuck just about faints. People like Mark are too good to be true, too good for this horrible, cruel world. Donghyuck wants to take him in and shield him forever, how precious.

 

“You’re an idiot for doing that,” he informs Mark instead, watching Mark place two ten dollar notes in his palm with some kind of sick horror and amazement. “You shouldn’t be trusting me with your money.”

 

“It’s alright.” Mark seems unbothered by this amazing act of kindness. Was he not aware of his own angelic actions? Has no one ever complimented his generousity before?

 

_ Well, Jeno probably has, but Mark seems like the kind of guy to forget what an amazing person he is. _

 

“Thanks, Canada.” Donghyuck grins cheekily, and bolts out the door before Mark realises what a horrible mistake he’s made and takes back the money. Seriously, he is starving. He’s not gonna miss an opportunity to get a free meal just like that, not even for a cutie like Mark.

 

(He does come back later with two burgers and some fries for them to share, though. Mark didn’t ask for any but Donghyuck felt obligated to. He doesn’t tell Mark that he’s never done that for Jaemin before and leaves Mark to believing that Donghyuck is also a nice kind person who helps his friends in need, which is the exact opposite of what he is, on the outside at least.)

  
  
  


*

  
  
  


2: Movie night

 

“Movie night!” Jaemin yelled excitedly, pulling out his stash of movies. The numerous CDs clatter noisily as the box hits the ground, a few precariously placed ones falling off the pile and onto the carpet. Looks aesthetically pleasing, but in reality could be featured on that hoarders TV show.

 

_ That boy has a problem. _

 

Jeno obviously didn’t think so, shifting over to search through the mess of CDs for a good movie to watch.

 

Not wanting to be a part of that, whatever that is, Donghyuck got up from the sofa. “I’ll pop some popcorn.”

 

When he comes back, he sees they’ve decided on Avengers: Infinity War like the absolute fucking Marvel nerds they are. Donghyuck is a bit of a hypocrite because he enjoys Marvel movies as much as they do, but it’s his job to insult Jaemin and Jeno in their every life choice. Not a very difficult one in the first place because the two of them are like dumb and dumber, but yeah.

 

“Infinity War? Haven’t you guys watched that like, a million times already?” Donghyuck snipes. He dumps the bowl of popcorn on the table and snuggles into the couch to settle down for the movie. He isn’t going to admit that he’s been hoping that they would play Infinity War. Let’s all just pretend Loki is still alive, yeah?

 

“Loki is alive, you dipshit,” Jaemin scoffs. “He’s the god of mischief! Even he would know that his knife idea would never have worked.”

 

_ Oh dear, is he going into one of his rants again? How are we supposed to watch the damn movie with Jaemin commenting all the way through? _

 

“Babe,” Jeno hummed. “I love you and all but we’re trying to watch a movie.”

 

_ Thank god for Lee Jeno. _

 

Jaemin pouts and curls up next to Jeno on the floor, stretching his arm across Jeno’s waist to pull him closer.

 

“Promise to kiss me during all the sad parts?” Jaemin whispers, fluttering his lashes.

 

“No,” Jeno says. “You’re saying this now, but when the movie starts you’re gonna slap me if I dare disrupt you.”

 

“You know me so well.” Jaemin giggles. From behind them, Donghyuck fake-gags into his hand and grabs a pillow.

 

_ I can’t stay here anymore. _

 

“Loser!” Jaemin yells. Donghyuck sticks his tongue out at him and Jaemin retaliates similarly.

 

“Jeno, your boyfriend is bullying me.” Donghyuck whines.

 

Jeno shrugs.  “Mark is at home.”

 

_ Mark? _

 

Donghyuck is out the door in a second, and he pretends he can't hear Jeno and Jaemin snickering behind him. 

 

*

 

“Hey Canada.” Donghyuck greets the moment the door to Jeno and Mark’s dorm flies open.

 

“Oh. You again.” Mark says. He doesn’t make a move to invite Donghyuck inside, so Donghyuck merely pushes Mark (gently) to the side and invites himself in.

 

“Yes, me again,” He agrees. He puts his pillow on the couch and stands imposingly in the living room. “Do you have any movies?”

 

He kind of pities mark, watching the poor boy stand there looking awkward in his own house, but he really needs a movie night, and preferably one that Jeno and Jaemin can’t crash.

 

Mark’s wearing what possibly could be the  _ cutest _ outfit in the history of outfits - a slightly oversized black hoodie and similarly coloured track pants. Donghyuck’s unsure if he should squeal and pinch Mark’s cheeks or jump out of the window. He’s seriously leaning towards the latter.

 

“I have some…” Mark mutters, gesturing at a cupboard. Donghyuck takes this as a good sign, and opens it.

 

After ten seconds of searching — thank goodness Mark has good taste in movies — he finds The Proposal. It's not a Marvel movie, but being with Mark is way better than having to withstand Jeno and Jaemin being disgusting. Besides, it’s really, really good.

 

“You okay with this?” He asks, holding out the DVD. Mark makes a slightly strangled noise. Donghyuck takes that as a yes.

 

He finds a place on Mark’s couch he decides he likes, and hugs his pillow to his chest. Mark is still standing at the doorway, so Donghyuck pats the seat next to him as an invitation to sit. Mark makes another weird sound. Donghyuck is starting to get a little concerned.

 

“...why are you here?” Mark finally asks after a good ten minutes of silence.

 

Donghyuck hums. “Jeno and Jaemin kicked me out again with their couple-ness. I came here last time so I thought: ‘well, Mark would probably let me stay here again’. So here I am.”

 

There’s a tense silence after this, and Donghyuck find himself worrying that he’s made a mistake. It’s a little too late for that, when he’s already invaded their dorm and stolen a movie of his choice, but he actually likes Mark. He doesn’t want Mark to be upset at him.

 

Just when Donghyuck was about to pack up and leave and cry into a tub of ice-cream all night, Mark nods.

 

“Okay.”

 

That’s how he finds himself seated next to Mark Lee, watching The Proposal on Mark’s couch.

 

Mark glances at him. “Are you wearing pajamas?”

 

Donghyuck scoffs. “Yeah, any sane human wears pajamas to movie night.”

 

Mark shifts uncomfortably. “I don't.”

 

Donghyuck pretends to look scandalised. “Mark! How could you?”

 

“It's just… weird.” Mark says, gesturing to what Donghyuck was wearing. Donghyuck looks down at his unicorn onesie. 

 

“It's adorable, and pretty,” Donghyuck huffs. “I will not tolerate any unicorn slander in this house!”

 

Mark makes an amused expression. 

 

“It must be Jeno,” Donghyuck decides.  _ Damn Lee Jeno for making Mark into a boring person.  _ “Jeno is the one polluting your personality and making you boring.”

 

“But Jeno is interesting?”

 

“Ah, that's where you're wrong,” Donghyuck tisked, shaking his finger at Mark. “Lee Jeno is only the most boring one in our friend group. That is why I absolutely detest him.”

 

That's a lie, because Donghyuck loves Jeno with all his heart, and he knows that Mark knows this. But he appreciates him playing along anyway. 

 

“But you just said I'm boring too?”

 

“Yeah, but that’s okay, because you’re cute.” Mark makes a choked up wheezing sound. Donghyuck smirks internally.  _ Honestly, Mark Lee is the cutest. _

 

“You want to get some food?” Donghyuck asks casually. His brain is screaming that this seems more and more like a date with every passing second, but his stomach agrees to food and Donghyuck is inclined to throw his brain out the window. 

 

Mark hums and pulls out a new tab on his computer for delivery. “Sure.”

 

They end up ordering a lot – bibimmyeon, samgyeopsal, soft tofu stew with some delicious kimchi as a side dish. Donghyuck worries that Mark is gonna go broke after this and offers to split the bill, but Mark's a gentleman, as always, and pays for the entire meal. 

 

“Thanks Canada.” Donghyuck grins appreciatively and digs in. Mark flushes and follows suit. 

 

The food is finished quickly, due to then being hungry students and all. The movie plays on, and it's then that Donghyuck realises that Mark might have been preparing to go to bed. He kept yawning, and shuffling around, like he was trying to find a discreet way to sleep without offending Donghyuck.

 

“You know, you can sleep if you want to,” Donghyuck comments nolachantly, eyes still fixed on the screen. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Mark looking guilty. That wouldn’t do. “I don't mind.”

 

“...I don’t have a pillow.” Mark mumbles. The stupidest idea pops into Donghyuck’s brain. 

 

_ Yeah, no, brain. That’s not gonna work. That’s a dumb idea and we are not doing it no matter how cute we think Mark is- _

 

“You can use me as a pillow.”

 

Mark glances up, eyes comically wide.  _ Shit, why did I say that? Oh my god, good going Donghyuck, you knew he was the Panicked Gay Icon, and yet you still decided to say something like that. _

 

“It’s no big deal.” Donghyuck shrugs.  _ Hey it's out there, might as well play along. _

 

“Right…” Mark licks his lips nervously. He cautiously scoots closer to Donghyuck until he was right next to him, hands just a inch away from touching.

 

Donghyuck keeps his eyes firmly on the screen and prays that Mark doesn’t hear his heart pounding. Thank goodness it was so dark in the room, Donghyuck was sure his face was red enough to rival a fire truck.

 

He feels hair touching his neck, and there’s a small weight on his shoulder. Mentally? He’s freaking out. But externally, he’s keeping a cool front, just so Mark doesn’t freak out either.

 

“Comfy?” He asks, thanking the heavens that his voice came out smoothly.

 

“Y-Yeah!” Mark stutters. The weight shifts a little bit, and he feels more than hears Mark take a deep breath. The wind tickles his ear, but he stays still.

 

“Goodnight Mark.” Donghyuck says, and after a while, he feels Mark’s breath become steady, drifting off to sleep. He lowers the volume of the movie until it becomes perfect background noise, and stays as still as he can.

 

(Jeno finds him like that two hours later, when The Proposal was down to its last few minutes. The look on his face was one that Donghyuck would normally appreciate, had he not been so utterly embarrassed.

 

“Hyuck… what the fuck?”

 

“Shut up! He was tired, okay? What was I supposed to do, let him die?”)

  
  
  


*

  
  
  


3: Study date

Donghyuck nibbles on his pen, flipping the pages of his textbook back and forth in an attempt to make out what on earth the words mean.

 

_ This is it, I’m gonna fail my exams and die alone and sad. _

 

Just as he thinks he might actually understand an equation, he hears a small giggle coming from inside one of their rooms.

 

_ Okay… that’s weird, but let's not question it. We have bigger problems right now. _

 

Writing down some notes on a bright pink sticky note, Donghyuk flips to the next page. Then he hears the sound again.

 

“Jaemin-ah…”

 

_ Fuck, I forgot Jeno came over. _

 

Donghyuck glances back down to his textbook almost fearfully, as if already mourning the loss of what could have been a productive study session.

 

Despite his unwillingness to listen in on his roommate's and said roommate's boyfriend’s conversation, his ears betray him and choose this specific time to grant him superhuman hearing ability.

 

“Jaemin-ah… food…. let’s get food…”

 

He can almost see the pout on Jeno’s face right now.

 

He hears Jaemin whine, and some rustling, which must be him turning over in his bed.

 

_ Good luck with that Jeno, Jaemin takes for-fucking-ever to get out of bed. _

 

Realising that he’s become too focused on Jeno and Jaemin’s conversation, he stares down again at his textbook. He isn’t a creep, alright? Besides, he’s not even sure they know he’s at home right now, with all the couple stuff they’re doing, sharing beds and shit. That’s gross, and Donghyuck wants no part in it.

 

“Jaemin…”

 

Donghyuck grips his pen tighter.

 

_ Hear no evil, see no evil. I've transcended time and reality. Nothing matters anymore, except for my textbook. Nothing matters. I can't hear anything- _

 

“Jaemin...!”

 

“I was wrong,” Donghyuck mutters, grabbing his phone. “I was wrong, I was so, so wrong. Who was I to stay in the dorms while Jeno and Jaemin were inside? That’s right, me, like the idiot I am. I shouldn’t have done that.”

 

Donghyuck takes one last survey of their dining room table. His books are thrown everywhere, his pencil case hazards placed at the edge, pens spilling over and onto the floor. His pink sticky notes are stuck along the edge of the table. He’s reached the Jaemin-level chaos.

 

“Time for a break!” He announces, loudly. He doesn’t think Jeno and Jaemin can hear him, but oh well.

 

He sends a text to Jaemin, telling him that he’ll be out for the day. Where? Well, that’s still a work in progress.

 

As he leaves the dorm and closes the door behind him, Donghyuck catches sight of a very familiar person returning to the dorm opposite his.

 

*

 

Mark pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs heavily.

 

“Again?”

 

Donghyuck smiles guiltily.

 

“Sorry?”

 

Mark sighs again.

 

“Come in, I guess.”

 

“Actually…” Donghyuck says, watching Mark go in and put down his bag. “I was thinking that we could go to the park.”

 

“The park?” Mark frowns. “What for?”

 

“It’s really nice during this time of the year!” Donghyuck defends. It could be his brain malfunctioning due to the stress of studying, but he thinks Mark might be… smiling at him?

 

_ Woah, okay, that’s new. But surprisingly… nice? _

 

“Yeah, okay, let's go to the park,” Mark agrees. Donghyuck stares at him in shock. “What? You’re the one that said it was really nice this time of the year!”

 

“I didn’t expect you to actually agree…” Donghyuck murmurs. He suddenly feels much better about constantly chasing Mark around whenever he gets exiled from his own dorm.

 

“Why not? I think you’re cool.” Mark says, locking the door. He starts off in the direction of the park, like he didn’t just say that one life-threatening sentence that’s messing with Donghyuck’s head.

 

It’s then that Donghyuck notices that Mark isn’t in his usual assemble of hoodie and track pants. He’s in something much worse, possibly life threatening to poor, innocent gay boys like Donghyuck.

 

He’s in a black,  _ sleeveless  _ shirt, stylishly half-tucked into a pair of tight black jeans. His hair was pushed back by a red and white striped bandana. For the first time since Donghyuck met him in their dorm a few weeks ago, Mark looks… hot?

 

“You coming or…?” Mark raises an eyebrow. Donghyuck’s eyes widen.

 

_ So Mark is cute, nice, allows Donghyuck to crash at his place and can look hot. Save some talents for the rest of us, damn. Just when he thought he couldn’t humanly be more attracted to Mark Lee… _

 

“Yeah! Yeah…” he replies hastily, cheeks flushing in embarrassment. “Coming!”

 

Mark grins cutely and continues on, leaving a flustered mess of a human behind him.

 

*

 

Donghyuck follows Mark to the park, skipping all the way, much to Mark’s amusement.

 

“Why’re you so happy?” Mark chuckles, watching Donghyuck literally stop to smell the roses.

 

“I’m stopping to smell the roses, Mark,” Donghyuck narrates. He exaggerates taking deep breaths from the bushes and sighs, contented. “They’re lovely, the little darlings.”

 

“Really,” Mark states wryly. “I always thought roses were like the bitchy supermodels of flowers.”

 

“You got that from a movie, but yeah, it’s true,” Donghyuck agrees. He continues down the dirt path, away from the bushes of roses. “I always preferred sunflowers.”

 

“You like sunflowers?” Mark asks, jogging to keep up with Donghyuck.

 

“Yeah,” Donghyuck confirms. He changes direction, heading towards the pond. “I think if I were a celebrity I’d call my fans ‘sunflowers’. That’ll be real cute.”

 

“It would.” Mark murmurs. Donghyuck sends him a bright smile over his shoulder, the afternoon sun in the background like a halo above his head.

 

Mark thinks he would definitely be a sunflower.

 

*

 

“I brought a blanket.” Donghyuck announced, sounding quite pleased with himself. The pastel yellow picnic blanket goes over the grass, Donghyuck taking off his shoes and stomping over the uneven areas.

 

“You really wanted to go to the park, huh?” Mark comments, following Donghyuck’s lead and removing his shoes. The picnic blanket is really thin and he can feel all the bumps of the soil under them, but Donghyuck seems satisfied, magically pulling a sandwich out from his school bag.

 

“I wanted to look at the ducks.” He explains, gesturing towards the pond a few meters away. 

 

The two watch in comfortable silence for a minute as a mother duck leads her ducklings on a trip across the pond, the small ones following her in a neat line. They swim to an elderly lady throwing some bird food on the other side, quaking noisily as they enjoy their snack.

 

“They’re so cute!” Mark coos, eyes trailing the smallest duckling waddling around its mother. He feels Donghyuck take a huge bite of his sandwich and nod vehemently beside him.

 

“The baby’s my favourite.” He says through a mouthful of bread. He uses said sandwich to point at the smallest duckling, the floppy bread sagging sadly in midair.

 

“Same!” Mark gasps, high fiving him. “Great minds think alike.”

 

“Ah, Canada,” Donghyuck groans, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You and your English phrases.”

 

“Yah,” Mark complains weakly. Donghyuck fixes him with a stare. “...yeah okay! You’re right.”

 

“Damn right I am,” Donghyuck says, collecting the bread crumbs left from his sandwich. He pulls out some grapes, the grapes halved and quartered and packed neatly in a lunchbox. “You wanna feed the ducks?”

 

“Yes!” Mark lunges for the package, grabbing some. “Oh my god! Will they come here?”

 

“Probably.” Donghyuck strolls over and throws a small handful of the neatly cut grapes. The ducks nearby immediately swim over and peck them up.

 

“Ducks can eat grapes?” Mark asks in awe, watching the ducks happily eat them up.

 

“Yeah, as long as they’re cut so they don’t choke,” Donghyuck says. He tilts his chin towards the halved grapes. “Many people think feeding ducks bread is the best food, but that actually poses health risks for them.”

 

“That’s amazing,” Mark breathes. “You googled it?”

 

“Yeah.” Donghyuck smiles cheekily. The baby duckling they both liked so much found its way over to their side, its small beak nibbling at the grapes.

 

“Aw, cute.” Mark whispers, stroking the duckling with his finger, careful to avoid being peaked. The duckling quaked softly and flapped its wings, prompting a round of ‘aww’s.

 

*

 

“Hey,” Donghyuck nudges Mark once all the grapes are gone and the ducks have swam away to play in the water. “You wanna create a secret handshake now that we’re best buddies forever?”

 

“We’re not best buddies forever,” Mark giggles. “But sure. Why not?”

 

“Okay, serious now, Canada,” Donghyuck orders. Mark giggles quietly and nods. “This is gonna be the best handshake of your life. You prepared?”

 

“Yeah.” Mark’s smile is the cutest thing, all excited and shit. Donghyuck’s insides twist weirdly. 

 

(They do create their handshake after nearly an hour of discussion. The entire thing is half a minute long, and way too extra to be used in everyday life. They even left space at the end to be freestyle and changed often so they don’t get predictable. They make a pact to use it whenever possible, just because they can. Despite their hard work, Mark’s laughter and proud grin whenever they do it is still the best part of the entire handshake.)

  
  
  


*

  
  
  


4: Games

 

“Let’s play a game!” Jaemin cheers excitedly, eyes lighting up.

 

Donghyuck glances up uninterestedly from his computer, raising an eyebrow. Trust Na Jaemin to do spontaneous shit like this.

 

“Sure.” Jeno shrugs. He shifts down from the sofa onto the carpet to snuggle up next to his boyfriend. Donghyuck scoffs internally.  _ What a whipped idiot. _

 

“I’ll think of a word and then say another word related to the word I’m thinking of, and you have to guess what word I’m thinking of, okay?” Jaemin grins, clapping his hands together.

 

Much to his own disgust, Donghyuck finds himself interested in Jaemin’s stupid game. Look, one can only watch the same few YouTube videos before one gets bored, okay? Jaemin and Jeno are interesting, at least when they aren’t attempting to eat each other’s faces.

 

“Alright I’ve thought of a word,” Jaemin announces. He hums, thinking. “Caterpillar.”

 

“Butterfly?” Jeno tries.

 

Jaemin squeals in happiness. “Yeah! Yeah, great! I can’t believe you got it on the first try!”

 

Jeno smiles fondly at Jaemin’s excitement towards the game rather than his own intellect at having guessed the correct answer, like the absolute whipped idiot he is.

 

“You have a try.” Jaemin urges.

 

Jeno purses his lips. “Pretty.”

 

Jaemin frowns in thought. Then, as if a makeshift light bulb popped out of his brain, his lips curved into a wicked smile.

 

Donghyuck sucks in a breath.  _ Oh no oh no oh no- _

 

“You.” Jaemin winks.

 

_ THAT FUCKER- _

 

Jeno chokes on air and falls to the ground, burying his face into the carpet. A sad, pitiful whine was heard a Lee Jeno once again fell victim to Jaemin’s infinite stash of cheesy lines.

 

A single tear rolls down Donghyuck’s cheek. Drama.

 

“Babe, cmon,” Jaemin says, trying to sound concerned. The huge grin on his face gives it all away.

 

Jeno whines some more.

 

“I need to get out of here.” Donghyuck whispers fearfully, gathering up his stuff and fleeing the dorm before it was too late.

 

*

 

“Hey, Mark.” Donghyuck says. He’s leaning seductively against the door frame.

 

“Hey, Donghyuck.” Mark parrots. He keeps his book back into his bag, because if there’s anything he’s learnt this past week, is that there’s no way he’ll get anything done when Donghyuck’s around.

 

“Do you wanna go to a karaoke?”

 

The question catches Mark off-guard, his hands stilling on his book.

 

“Karaoke?” He questions.  _ Donghyuck is so random, I swear. _

 

“Yeah.” Donghyuck nods, like going karaoke with your roommate’s boyfriend’s roommate whom you’ve technically only truly met this week is totally normal.

 

But as per usual, whatever Donghyuck asks, Mark has to agree.

 

“Yeah, sure,” Mark finds himself saying, horrified at what was coming out of his mouth. “Karaoke it is.”

 

“Great!” Donghyuck cheers, pumping his arms into the air in celebration. “Are you paying?”

 

_ Oh no, you’re broke after treating Jeno to ice cream. You can’t afford this, you can’t afford this— _

 

“Yeah, I’m paying.” Mark blurts out. Both him and Donghyuck seem shocked by this, and the dorm is momentarily silent before Donghyuck’s cheering again, louder this time, drowning out the sound of Mark’s empty wallet crying.

 

“Mark’s the best!” Donghyuck claps, running over and planting a small kiss on Mark’s cheek. He grins the in most innocent way possible and backpedals out of the dorm. “Catch you on the flip side, Canada!”

 

Mark’s eyes widen, and he touches his cheek, almost scared. He can feel the heat creeping up and curling around his face. He’s sure his ears are on fire.

 

He splashes some cold water on his face to calm himself down. Looking into the bathroom mirror, he’s not surprised to find the stupidest grin on his face.

 

_ Well, if Donghyuck reacts like that… I guess it’s all worth it. _

 

*

 

“Alright, we have an hour, let’s kill it!” Donghyuck cheers excitedly, already grabbing the list of songs.

 

Mark watches him fondly as Donghyuck flips through the thick book and lets out exclamations whenever he comes across a song he likes and scribbles them down.

 

“Of course, we have to sing English songs too.” Donghyuck says seriously. He’s gripping the pencil tightly and pointing the sharp tip at Mark, eyes narrowed. He looks a lot like a mad scientist, except with a degree for karaoke song choices.

 

“Of course.” Mark agrees. He’d agree with anything Donghyuck says at this point, that’s how whipped he’s become. Donghyuck could ask him to jump off a cliff and Mark will leap right off that shit, no questions asked.

 

“I’m thinking… Michael Jackson?” Donghyuck says excitedly. Mark raises an eyebrow.

 

“That’s the entire reason we’re here, isn’t it?” He sighs.

 

“Yeah,” Donghyuck doesn’t even try to hide it anymore. He’s grinning widely, eyes sparking just as brightly as the artificial coloured lights swirling above them. “What’s a karaoke without the greatest legend to ever hold a mic?”

 

“Sure, we can have some MJ.” Mark chuckles. Donghyuck looks so happy at this prospect that Mark doesn’t have it in him to disagree. He’s a level 100 whipped at this point. Whipped cream has nothing on him.

 

“Another English song… well…. do you know Bruno Mars?” Donghyuck hums, flipping the pages of the song book.

 

“Of course I know Bruno Mars,” Mark scoffs. “You act as if I’ve never heard English before.”

 

“Oh right, Canada,” Donghyuck snaps his fingers. “Oh, this is pretty good.”

 

Mark’s eyes trail his fingers over to the words he’s pointing at. 

 

“Billionaire?”

 

“Yeah, I think it’s a pretty good song,” Donghyuck explains. He’s already adding the song to the playlist. “Plus, it has a rap, which is always cool.”

 

“Can you even sing?” Mark frowns. He’s pretty confident in his rapping skills — he’s rapped to himself in the mirror before and like, once, to Jeno  — but he’s never heard Donghyuck sing before.

 

Donghyuck laughs softly.

 

“Ah, my voice is pretty ordinary.” He says modestly.

 

Donghyuck reaches into his bag and pull out a blue and red scarf. He winds the scarf around Mark’s neck, and steps back, proud of his work.

 

“There! I was picking this out and thinking, ‘huh, this could be cute’. But I wasn’t sure if it was certified cute.” Donghyuck says, like it was obvious that you’d pick out an outfit for your karaoke partner.

 

“‘Certified cute’ isn’t a term.” Mark smiles wryly, but he keeps the scarf on. After all, Donghyuck picked it out.

 

*

 

The first song starts, a popular Korean pop song, the crappy quality video and it’s corresponding lyrics flashing up on screen.

 

“Well, better put your ordinary voice to good use, here’s your song!” Mark says cheerfully, handing Donghyuck a mic.

 

“Right!” Donghyuck shouts, hyping himself up. “Okay!”

 

“Fighting!” Mark encourages. This will be exciting.

 

The second Donghyuck opens his mouth, Mark’s jaw drops.

 

_ Ordinary my ass. _

 

Donghyuck’s voice is….

 

…. _ amazing _ .

 

It’s like the heavens opened up and sent down an angel, because Mark’s sure that’s what he must be hearing.

 

His ears are blessed, his skin is clear, his grades are high. Lee Donghyuck’s voice has saved his soul.

 

The song ends, and Mark can only watch with mute shock as Donghyuck receives a score in the 95s.

 

_ As expected of Lee Donghyuck, really…. _

 

“So?” Donghyuck says, breathless from the excitement. “How was it?”

 

“You didn’t tell me you could sing, you piece of shit!” Mark yells, hitting Donghyuck with a pillow. “If I had known you had the voice of a literal angel I wouldn’t have come here to make a fool of myself with my mediocre vocal talent!”

 

Donghyuck laughs, bright and airy. His cheeks are flushed, the tips of his ears red from embarrassment.

 

“It’s not that good…” he mumbles, shuffling his feet.

 

“Not good my ass,” Mark scoffs. “That was the best singing voice I’ve ever heard.”

 

“Thanks.” Donghyuck says shyly.

 

“You still wanna do a duet on ‘Billionaire’, or will my crappy vocals ruin the song?” Mark asks jokingly.

 

“Hmm,” Donghyuck fakes tapping his chin in thought. “I think I’d survive it.”

 

“Okay!” Mark grabs the other mic. “You wanna choreograph a dance while we’re at it?”

 

Mark was joking (mostly), but Donghyuck’s eyes light up the way they do whenever he gets an idea and grins.

 

“Actually…”

 

*

 

“I wanna be a billionaire…” Donghyuck finishes, the song trailing off into nothing.

 

“Score time!” Mark gulps, suddenly feeling nervous.

 

When Donghyuck had created a choreography, he had really  _ created a choreography _ , making Mark practice shuffling with him in synchronisation.

 

Honestly, it was the cutest dance Mark had ever seen. He’s so, so whipped.

 

The screen changes, numbers rolling in, somehow creating suspense, or as much suspense as one can create in a cheap karaoke room.

 

“A 100!” Donghyuck screams, throwing his arms around Mark. “Holy shit, that’s high!”

 

“100!” Mark yells, following Donghyuck’s lead and jumping around the small room. “Dude that’s amazing!”

 

They celebrate with their signature handshake, flashy routine and all, the both of them smiling so hard their cheeks hurt.

  
  
  


*

  
  
  


5: Confession

 

“Hey, Jeno?” Mark begins nervously, the boy in question lounging casually on the couch turning around at the sound of his name. “How do you confess to someone?”

 

“Why?” Jeno responds, frowning. “You got a crush?”

 

“Uh, asking for a friend.” Mark blurts out, unsure how to inform his roommate he has a crush on his boyfriend's roommate. It's all really messed up. 

 

“Nonsense, you've got no friends other than the squad, and no one there has a crush on anyone,” Jeno points out his obvious lie. Then he frowns. “Unless you count your weird college friends, but I think Jaehyun can figure out how to woo Taeyong himself.”

 

“Oh yeah! I could call them for help, thanks man.” Mark gasps, suddenly remembering the existence of his college friends. Mark may be in high school, but he’s friends with a strangely large amount of college people, who often come over just to hangout despite ‘working’.

 

“No problem bro,” Jeno pats his shoulder. “I'm heading over to Jaemin's, which means that Donghyuck's gonna be heading here soon. You'd better think of a way to confess to him, and fast.”

 

“Wait, I never said it was Donghyuck I'm confessing to- Lee Jeno you get back here right now!” Mark shouts over the sound of Jeno cackling. He reaches for the back of his roommate's shirt, but Jeno is out the door before he could react. 

 

“Well, he's not wrong…” Mark mumbles, glancing at his phone. The chat group ‘Foreign Swaggers’ stands out, the winking emoji Ten put at the end almost mocking him and his sad, non-existent love life that hopefully won’t be so non-existent soon. 

 

_ It's not like I have much of a choice anyway.  _

 

*

 

“So, Marky,” Johnny says, plopping down in front of Mark at the dining table. “You need help with confessing?”

 

“I still don't know why I called you guys.” Mark grumbles. As soon as Johnny spammed the chat with winking emojis, he knew he had fucked up. Instant regret. “Aren't y'all busy with college?”

 

“We can always make time for our favourite little Marky-poo and his crushes.” Ten sings, pinching an offended Mark's cheek. 

 

“Well, I don't know why you called these dumbasses,” Johnny gestures at Jaehyun and Ten, who'd ran off and were now busy raiding the fridge. “But you did good calling me. In fact, I don't know why you didn't call me earlier.”

 

“Don't look down on me,” Jaehyun says sternly, mouth full of Mark's bread. He turns back to the fridge, searching for a drink. “I just want some milk, goddammit!”

 

“Yeah, dumbass,” Ten adds. He pulls out a bunch of bananas, grimacing. “Ew, fruits. Mark, don't you high schoolers eat any real food nowadays?”

 

“Bananas, give them here.” Johnny says. Ten throws him one. Johnny opens his mouth wide and proceeds to deep throat the entire fruit, hand coming away with only the peel left. 

 

“Ah! That was why we weren't supposed to give Johnny a banana!” Jaehyun claps, pointing accusingly at Ten, who shrugs. 

 

“Y'all are no help at all,” Mark whines, laying his head down on the tabletop in defeat. “Your stupid brains have been fried from interning at that 127 Company place.”

 

“I'm working at U, though.” Ten raises. Mark throws Johnny's banana peel at him, prompting a scream that probably went higher than Ariana's high note. He's sure some glass cup in their cabinet is reduced to shards now. 

 

“I can text Taeyong, I think he knows how to flirt.” Jaehyun says, pulling out his phone. Johnny parrots him mockingly. 

 

“Taeyong's the guy with the mullet that Jaehyun's absolutely in love with, right?” Mark questions. Ten snickers, nodding. 

 

“Taeyong's a certified Panicked Gay who's about as good at flirting as a rock, Jaehyun's just all up his ass because he has a crush.” Johnny rolls his eyes. Mark loves his college friends, really, but they're so  _ dumb _ . 

 

“You don’t understand,” Mark whines pathetically, rolling his head around on the table. “Donghyuck is so… pretty.”

 

“Right…” Johnny draws out, glancing up to Jaehyun and Ten for help.

 

“I wonder if he tastes like sunshine, you know? Since he’s the sun.”

 

“Mark, are you drunk?” Johnny asks amusedly, patting Mark’s head like one would a small puppy. Ten has his phone out, recording for blackmail purposes. Traitor.

 

“No I’m just… overwhelmed.” Mark pushes Johnny’s prying hand away. “He’s ethereal, and I’m just this regular human.”

 

“Dude, you’re whipped,” Johnny turns to Jaehyun. “Any advice? From one whipped man to another?”

 

“Why don’t you try googling it?” Jaehyun mumbles to Mark, smacking Johnny hard on the back of the head. Johnny winces and rubs the offending spot, glaring daggers at Jaehyun, who rolls his eyes and makes an exaggerated neck slicing motion.

 

“How to confess to your crush,” Ten says out loud, fingers already scrolling what supposedly should be an article of some sorts. “Well, it’s quite long, and  _ really  _ detailed. Your dumb gay ass is saved.”

 

Mark clicks the link Ten sent the group chat and blanches at the the website.  _ WikiHow… is he serious.  _ The pictures look really anime-like and with a guy and a girl — the straights win again! — but honestly the advice isn’t the worst. He’d take it, really, that’s how desperate he is.

 

“Okay thank for your help guys but Jeno went over to Jaemin’s and that means Donghyuck’s coming over soon, so if you could….” Mark makes a shooing motion towards the door and tries to shove them out with eye power alone.

 

“Yeah, yeah, tell us how it goes, okay Mark?” Johnny ruffles Mark’s hair affectionately, ignoring Mark’s groans and kissing the top of his head like a proud dad.

 

The three file out the door, Ten’s last ‘hope you get your gay bf!’ almost getting cut off by the door shutting behind them. Mark puts his head in his hands and sighs heavily, scrolling through the article.

 

_ Talk one on one, check. Don’t wait, well he’s coming over right now so I guess that’s a check. Try to stay calm and cool? WikiHow makes this seem so much easier than it actually is. Fuck you, WikiHow, I panic as much as I want. _

 

In the end, he settles on brushing his hair and cleaning up a bit, just to be safe. His T-shirt and jeans aren’t the worst combination in history, and he brushed his teeth that morning, so he’d say he’s pretty prepared.

 

_ Don’t follow a script, cut to the chase. You can fucking do this. _

 

*

 

“H-hey! Donghyuck!” Mark stutters and immediately does a mental facepalm. First sentence trying to sound like a normal person challenge? Failed.

 

“Wow. Love you too, Mark!” Donghyuck yells, voice sounding muffled. It’s then Mark notices that he accidentally let go of the door in his disappointment at himself and slammed it right in Donghyuck’s face.

 

_ Can this get any worse? _

 

“Sorry, I blacked out,” Mark hastily apologises, inviting Donghyuck in again. Donghyuck grins at him, throws out a ‘no problem!’ and makes himself comfortable on the couch. “Do you… want a drink?”

 

“Why’re you being so nice today?” Donghyuck squints suspiciously. At Mark’s redding face, he laughs again. “Chill, of course I want a drink. I’m just teasing you. Relax a little.”

 

“Relax… right.” Mark parrots mutely, moving on autopilot to the fridge. Grabbing two cans of coke, he returns and sets them on the table. He eyes the space between them with calculating eyes.

 

_ Try to stay calm and cool. _

 

“You okay?” Donghyuck cracks open the can of coke and takes a long gulp, Mark’s eyes following his adam’s apple bobbing up and down. “You seem kind of… off?”

 

The hint of concern in Donghyuck’s voice shakes Mark out of his confession-induced stupor, and he smiles reassuringly.  _ Honestly, it’s just Donghyuck. You know Donghyuck, you like Donghyuck. It’s not that deep. _

 

“I’m fine.” Mark says, and Donghyuck flashes him another one of his adorable smiles. He rooms with Jeno, owner of possibly the cutest smile in the world, and yet Donghyuck’s smile still makes his heart flutter in weird ways.

 

“You think my smile is adorable?” Donghyuck smirks. Mark’s eyes widen.

 

“Please… tell me I didn’t say that out loud.”

 

“You didn’t say that out loud,” Donghyuck says sarcastically. His expression shifts from smug to… almost shy. “Did you mean to say it out loud?”

 

“I…. um….” Mark swallows. The sound is unusually loud for a room that holds Lee Donghyuck, and he’s hyper aware of his heart threatening to pop right out of his chest.

 

“Mark,” Donghyuck says seriously. Mark sees his eyes flicker down to his lips for a split second, so fast that if he hadn’t been staring intently he would have missed it. “If you have something to say, you should say it now before I lose my confidence and go back to my dorm to cry.”

 

“I… like you, Donghyuck,” Mark confesses. He sees the change almost immediately, Donghyuck’s eyes lighting up and his lips curling into a delighted smile. He finds himself smiling back. “I had a crush on you as soon as you came into my dorm, probably.”

 

“I like you too,” Donghyuck says, cheeks flushed and happy. He looks up at Mark, eyes sparkling. “You mean it?”

 

“I mean it.” Mark says firmly. He glances down at Donghyuck’s lips and back up, making eye contact. “Can I kiss you?”

 

“Suddenly so bold,” Donghyuck teases. He shifts forward so that he’s nearly in Mark’s lap, clasping their hands together. “Kiss me.”

 

Mark finds that Donghyuck really does taste like sunshine, especially when he can feel Donghyuck smiling into the kiss.

  
  
  


*

  
  
  


+1: Revenge

 

“Guys, I want you to meet my cousin Zhong Chenle,” Renjun declares, pulling an adorable boy into the room. “Chenle, meet the idiots.”

 

“He’s so cute!” Jaemin coos, tugging Chenle’s cheeks. “Can I adopt him?”

 

“Jaemin, you can’t just adopt everyone you meet.” Renjun sighs, massaging his forehead. 

 

“Five seconds in and he’s already massaging?” Donghyuck snickers. “Injun, who pissed in your cereal today?”

 

Chenle looked around with a vaguely confused expression. “哥，他们在说什么?”

 

“不要管这些笨蛋吧，乐乐，他们在胡说八道。” Renjun responded fluently in Chinese. He gently patted Chenle’s head and guided him to the sofa.

 

“Can he only speak Chinese?” Mark questions, peering curiously at the new boy. Chenle glances at him and smiles, hand floating awkwardly between a wave and his lap.

 

“Nah, he can speak some English, he just prefers Chinese because he’s more fluent in it,” Renjun shrugs. “I’m kinda acting like a translator these days, but what can you do about it, right?”

 

“Hi, I’m Zhong Chenle.” Chenle smiles. The entire living room just got brighter from the force of that smile, the stress from the week melting away into nothing as the cute Chinese gives them each a tiny wave.

 

“He’s so precious!” Jaemin sighs again.

 

“That’s what you say now, but when you get to know him he’s a monster.” Renjun says darkly. He still combs Chenle’s hair out of his eyes and tucks it behind his ears.

 

“Hi, I’m Jisung. Park Jisung.” Jisung introduces nervously, opening his mouth for the first time since Chenle entered the room.

 

“Woah, Jisung? Introducing himself? That’s like third base for him already. Jisung, who is this boy?” Donghyuck teases. Jisung flushes red and whines softly in betrayal.

 

“Hello, Jisung.” Chenle says, words coated thickly with an accent, but his cute voice making up for it. Jisung goes redder and slinks back onto the carpet, trying hard to ignore the grin Chenle is giving him.

 

“Ah, young love,” Jaemin giggles. He nudges Jeno. “Babe, remember when we were like that?”

 

“Yeah, you got so panicked you fell over while trying to get the door,” Jeno hums. “Good times.”

 

“I thought you didn’t notice!” Jaemin gasps, horrified. “We had carpeted floors!”

 

“Carpets don’t muffle sound that much. You’re an entire human, love.” Jeno deadpans. Jaemin scrunches his nose in annoyance and turns away, huffing.

 

“Love, I’m sorry. I’ll try not to have normal hearing abilities next time, okay?” Jeno soothed, stroking Jaemin’s hair affectionately. The boy pouts for a few seconds longer, but gives in and rests his head on Jeno’s shoulder.

 

“So we just gonna ignore the fact that Jisung has a major crush on your cousin or…?” Donghyuck mutters into Renjun’s ear. Renjun glares at him.

 

“He’s a small child, let him live.” He hisses.

 

Jisung has somehow migrated across the room to Chenle, the two youngest now involved in some weird game involving fighting with their hands. Jisung stretched out his finger and ‘kicked’ Chenle, prompting an ear-splitting laugh from the other.

 

“So they best friends now.” Donghyuck commented quietly. Renjun smacked him on the thigh.

 

*

 

Donghyuck watches Jaemin kiss Jeno on the cheek in mild disgust.

 

_ First my dorm and now Mark’s dorm? Right in front of my salad? Really, they have no shame. _

 

Mark walks into the living room. 

 

“Anyone wants some banana milk?”

 

Everyone’s hands go up.

 

“Okay, I’ll just go get seven bottles of banana milk, because we just became a convenience store and got a new stock of banana milk today.” Mark rolls his eyes, turning into the kitchen. Donghyuck seizes this opportunity to follow him into the kitchen, effectively trapping him.

 

“Jeno and Jaemin have chased me out of the dorm for way too long now,” Donghyuck hisses to Mark. “We should give them a taste of their own medicine.”

 

“As in…?” Mark asks, confused. Donghyuck sighs.

 

“We should be all couple-y and chase them out with our grossness.” Donghyuck speaks slowly, like he’s explaining this to a child. Mark frowns in thought.

 

“Isn’t that kinda mean though?”

 

“Mark.” Donghyuck says flatly. Mark sighs, knowing he can’t do anything to change Donghyuck’s mind.

 

“What’re you doing?” Jaemin greet cutely, popping up from behind the two. Donghyuck immediately wraps an arm around Mark’s waist and turns around to face him.

 

“Jaemin.” Donghyuck nods to him, sounding very much like an evil villain. Jaemin looks to Mark, slightly unnerved, but Mark just shrugs unhelpfully.

 

“Alright then, I’ll just take my leave!” Jaemin says, backing out of the kitchen.

 

Donghyuck turns back to Mark.

 

“So? You in?”

 

Mark sighs again, long suffering, and nods.

 

*

 

“Did you get the banana milk?” Jisung demands as soon as the couple walk back into the room. Mark throws him a bottle and a plastic straw. “Aw, sweet.”

 

Mark sits himself onto the couch, right opposite Jeno and Jaemin. Donghyuck saunters over and plants himself right on Mark’s lap, causing complaints to rise from all sides.

 

“Get a room!” Renjun yells, throwing a cushion at them. Donghyuck dodges and the cushion hits Mark in the face instead. Donghyuck tsks softly under his breath and kisses Mark on the nose, effectively wiping away the frown.

 

“Ewww,” Jisung spurts, angrily drinking his banana milk. “They’re being gross again.”

 

“Shut your mouth you imbecile.” Donghyuck hisses, clearly in charge of protecting their couple-ness while Mark just sits there and looks awkward. Jisung chokes and flicks his hand dismissively at Donghyuck, who scowls.

 

“Do you even know what imbecile means, Jisung?” Jaemin cocks his head curiously. Jisung raise a finger, then slowly lowers it back down.

 

“I do!” He says defensively. “It’s… something bad.”

 

“Yes, of course it’s something bad. Congrats, you’ve figured it out, you great detective.” Renjun says sarcastically. Jisung pouts.

 

“If it’s any consolation, I don’t know what it means either!” Chenle says cheerfully, poking Jisung’s cheek. Jisung blushes heavily and turns his head to the side so Chenle couldn’t see the redness of his face.

 

“It means ‘a stupid person’,” Jeno reads loudly from his phone. He smiles, eye smile and all. “Then Hyuck was right, Jisung doesn’t know what it means so he’s stupid!”

 

“I don’t get how you can say these things with the smile you have.” Mark mutters. Jeno only flashes him another adorable eye smile.

 

“What about me?” Donghyuck asks cutely. He holds up a peace sign next to his face and smiles brightly. “Is my smile cute too?”

 

Behind them, Renjun mimicked throwing up into his hand.

 

“Your smile is the cutest smile.” Mark confirms. Donghyuck lets out a small ‘yay, I love you’ and presses his lips to Mark’s.

 

“Gross!” Jaemin shouts, ruining the moment. He grabs Jeno’s hand. “I’m out of here, losers!”

 

“Wait, no, I’m not staying here with  _ these  _ people.” Renjun shudders. He quickly follows Jeno and Jaemin out the door.

 

“You guys are too old to be interesting anyway,” Jisung sniffs. He grabs two more bottles of banana milk and Chenle’s hand, who looks up at him in confusion. “Renjun abandoned you, so I’ll show you around the school instead!” He explains.

 

“Mmm, have fun on your date.” Donghyuck snickers. Jisung flips him off and slams the door behind them.

 

Donghyuck waits for the door to be shut completely before turning around to Mark.

 

“We did it! We kicked everyone out of the dorm! Lee Donghyuck wins again!” He announces triumphantly.

 

“So you mean you didn’t mean the I love you?” Mark says. Donghyuck frowns.

 

“Of course I meant the I love you, dumbass,” Donghyuck says affectionately. He wraps his arms around Mark’s waist and rests his head on his shoulder. “I love you.”

 

Mark presses a kiss to the top of Donghyuck’s head. “I love you too.”

 

*

 

“Why aren’t we rooming together?” Donghyuck blurts out once all the lovey-dovey mushy stuff was over and it’s just them chilling on the couch. “It’d work, since we're dating and Jeno and Jaemin are dating. We could just switch.”

 

“No, because we'd fight too much and end up splitting up.” Mark retorts.

 

“Yeah, and we'd be all dramatic about it and cause a huge scene and go around with angry faces at each other all day.” Donghyuck chuckles.

 

“Exactly.” Mark nods, obviously proud of his amazing observation.

 

“We can call it the Markhyuck Summer Fight ‘17.” Donghyuck suggests, arms stretched out for added effect.

 

“It’s 2018?” Mark asks, confused. The last time he checked, the year was 2018, unless the calendar Jeno bought lied to him.

 

“Yeah, but 2018 is for our summer love.” Donghyuck whispers sweetly, clinging onto Mark’s arm and batting his lashes. Mark chokes and shoves him away roughly, causing the boy to fall onto the ground.

 

“Gross, I’m breaking up with you!” Mark threatens. Donghyuck giggles.

 

“No, you love me too much for that.”

 

Mark, unable to be angry at Donghyuck for too long, pulls him up from the floor and plants a sweet kiss to his lips. 

 

“Yeah, you’re right.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dream dyes their hair for fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHENLE!! ILY TALENTED MUSICAL GENIUS!!
> 
> I wanted to post something on Lele’s birthday so I guess this is it.
> 
> This chapter is a mess tbh it’s literally just a bunch of ot7 nonsense, idk what to say.
> 
> Enjoy!

+1: bonus ot7

 

“I’ve been thinking,” Jaemin starts, but no one except Jeno looks up at him. He continues on undeterred. “I want to dye my hair.”

 

This catches their attention.

 

“What colour?” Mark asks curiously.

 

“You could dye it pink.” Jisung, ever the mischievous piece of shit, says. Jaemin sticks his tongue out at him childishly.

 

“I’ll dye my hair pink if you dye your hair bright orange.” Jaemin challenges. Renjun makes a small sound of approval, clapping his hands together and whispering translations to a slightly confused Chenle. Donghyuck can almost see the cogs turning in Jisung’s brain, weighing the pros and cons.

 

“Deal.” Jisung raises an eyebrow. Renjun gasps loudly and relays the information to Chenle, who gasps as well. Jeno starts looking very concerned for Jaemin’s scalp.

 

“Wait, are we really doing this?” Mark asks worriedly. “Dye is permanent.”

 

“Hyuck, control your boyfriend,” Jaemin announced grandly, eyes never leaving Jisung’s face. “I’ve some hair to dye.”

 

*

 

They make their way to a nearby salon, Oh!GG. According to Donghyuck, he ‘knew the people who worked there’.

 

“They’re really nice,” Donghyuck gushes. He’s walking backwards on the busy street, Mark’s hand around his shoulders to guide him so he doesn’t get punched. “There were nine of them, but one left to be a designer and the other three are taking some time off to do personal things. But there’s still five of them!”

 

“Sounds complicated.” Renjun quips.

 

“Yeah, but they do the best hair dyes in the entire city. Do you want Jaemin and Jisung to look good or not?” Donghyuck says. Renjun shrugs.

 

“No one call pull off pink or orange hair. I think they’re doomed.”

 

“Ever so pessimistic, Injun,” Jaemin slings an arm around Renjun’s shoulder, poking his cheek affectionately. Renjun flips their arm around so that his is strangling Jaemin’s neck. “Okay! Okay, wow, touchy.”

 

Donghyuck bounces happily, pulling Mark along by the hand towards the direction of the salon. The seven boys find their way there relatively quickly, thanks to Donghyuck’s excited lead.

 

“Sunny!” Donghyuck greets enthusiastically. The woman at the front door turns around and lights up at the sight of Donghyuck.

 

“Hyuckie! Oh my, it’s been so long! How have you been?” She squeals, bringing him in for a hug. Donghyuck turns to Mark.

 

“This is my boyfriend, Mark,” he introduces. Sunny squeals again and pinches Mark’s cheek. “And that’s the rest of my squad, Renjun, Jaemin, Jeno, Jisung and Chenle.”

 

The other five wave politely and Sunny ushers them all into the salon, yelling out for the other woman currently working.

 

“Taeyeon! Guess who’s come with his friends!”

 

“Donghyuck!” Another woman comes out, wheeling a cart full of hair dye. Jaemin and Jisung glup audibly. “Hi! What do you want?”

 

“Well, we want to get our hair dyed,” Donghyuck explains. Mark shoots him a confused look and mouths ‘we?’. “All of us.”

 

“Wait, I didn’t sign up for this,” Renjun holds his hand out and backs away a few steps. “I came to see Jaemin get embarrassed.”

 

“We’re all here, might as well get our hair dyed!” Donghyuck says cheerfully, less than subtly dragging a very unwilling Renjun to sit on one of the chairs. 

 

“Not me,” Mark says with an air of finality. “I like black hair.”

 

“Suit yourself.” Donghyuck shrugs.

 

They each choose a colour, Sunny assuring them it’s ‘on the house!’.

 

Jaemin and Jisung get pink and orange respectively as planned. Renjun, not very enthusiastic, decides on a basic colour — blond, Jeno following with a light brown. Donghyuck, seeing Jeno’s choice, decides on brown too, but seizes the opportunity to use hair chalk to give his hair some rainbow streaks. Chenle, strangely brave, goes with a weird shade of green which Mark refers to as ‘cabbage coloured’.

 

They each find a spot at the salon to sit at. Luckily, it was empty at the time.

 

“Mark, you should be Detective Conan for halloween,” Donghyuck says to Mark's reflection in the mirror while Sunny was off getting his hair dye, Mark just chilling on the bench since he wasn’t getting his hair dyed. “Just put on some glasses and the correct jacket and you’d look exactly like him.”

 

“Jaemin can be Kaito Kid then,” Mark says. “We'd be matching, plus Jaemin always looks like he walked right out of an anime anyway. He'd fit it so well.”

 

Across the room, Jeno sighs dreamily.

 

“What, you don’t want to match with me?” Donghyuck pouts childishly.

 

“You’d probably want to dress up as Michael Jackson anyway.” Mark scrunches his nose. Donghyuck sticks his tongue out at Mark because he’s absolutely correct and they both know it.

 

Jaemin peeks his head around the mirrors towards Donghyuck. “Halloween costumes? As anime characters? Hell yeah, I'm in.”

 

“What should I be?” Jeno asks, eager to be part of the conversation.

 

“You can be a historical prince, since you're handsome enough to star in a K-drama as one.” Jaemin winks. Jeno turns back to his mirror, face flushed. 

 

“Gross.” Renjun says, tapping away at his phone. 

 

“Fine then, what would you be, Mr I'm-Too-Cool-For-You?” Jaemin raises an eyebrow. 

 

“Probably Peter Pan or something,” Renjun sniffs. “I could get pointy ears.”

 

“Knowing you, you'll probably half-ass it.” Donghyuck scoffs. 

 

“Does Peter Pan even have pointy ears?” Mark wonders, pulling out his phone to Google it.

 

“I think the Disney version should have pointy ears.” Jeno says, wrinkling his brow in thought.

 

“Yeah, I could just wear a green shirt and hat with brown pants.” Renjun shrugs.

 

“Aha! The Disney version of Peter Pan wears all green, and has an orange feather in his hat. You’re half-assing this. Case in point.” Donghyuck says smugly. Sunny slaps his shoulder and tilts his head back towards the mirror, causing everyone to snicker quietly. 

 

“Chenle will probably go as something cute.” Mark says, squinting at the newest addition to their friend group. Chenle smiles at him serenely. 

 

“No,” he says, words heavily accented. “I'm gonna go as Pennywise from IT and scare the shit out of everyone.”

 

There's a short silence from the group as everyone stared at each other with slightly wide eyes. Renjun sighs again like he expected that answer. 

 

“You'd be a year late to the trend though.” 

 

Chenle just shrugs. 

 

“I'm gonna go as a half-man half-beast!” Jisung chirps. 

 

Jaemin coos. “Nonsense. You're too cute to be scary.”

 

“You'd end up looking like a baby squirrel rather than a monster.” Donghyuck nods. Jisung pouts. 

 

“Can we all collectively agree that Jaemin would look the hottest though.” Jeno says, staring at his boyfriend. The group shrugs. 

 

“Yeah, you're right,” Donghyuck sighs. “Jaemin would fly to Vietnam for a day and like, play ‘The River Flows In You’ on the piano for the less fortunate as a music class.”

 

“Aw.” Jaemin says sweetly, happy with the praise. His expression quickly melts once he sees Taeyeon walk out with a bottle of pink dye.

 

“Isn’t that… too pink?” He asks nervously. Jisung snickers.

 

“Nothing’s ever ‘too pink’.” Taeyeon scolds. She starts clipping up his hair, Jaemin’s horrified expression making it seem like she was about to murder him rather than dye his hair.

 

“Blackmail!” Renjun sings, snapping a few photos of Jaemin’s face. “Blond was a good choice.”

 

*

 

“Chenle! Come out!” Donghyuck yells. 

 

The people with ‘normal’ colours of sorts were sitting on the bench. Jaemin, Jisung and Chenle were hiding behind the curtain, how their hair colours looked still a mystery.

 

Chenle, not part of the bet, was the first to come out from behind the curtain. His green hair was  _ really green. _

 

“You look like grass.” Mark points out. Chenle only smiles proudly at himself and gives Mark a thumbs up.

 

“Next!” Donghyuck, the self-appointed MC of the day, announces. “Jisung!”

 

Jisung peeks out from behind the curtain. He steps out, and those sitting on the bench gasp, impressed.

 

“Woah, Jisung-ah!” Mark calls. “You look great!”

 

Jisung runs a hand through his hair experimentally. 

 

“Really?” He says, unsure. “I thought it was a bit much.”

 

“No, it looks amazing. You look amazing.” Jeno assures him.

 

Jisung shakes his hair out of his eyes and sits next to Chenle, who mouths ‘woah’ at him and pats his hair.

 

“Jaemin!” Donghyuck calls out. “Come out!”

 

“I’m gay!” Jaemin shouts back in response. Everyone groans.

 

“Not what I meant but I still support you!” Donghyuck yells, amused. “But really! Jeno needs to know if he has to break up with you!”

 

Jeno yelps and hits Donghyuck on the shoulder.

 

“Okay! I’ll come out now!” Jaemin announces. After a short pause — Renjun takes out his phone to video it — he draws back the curtain and steps out.

 

“Oh no,” Renjun mutters, sounding disappointed. “He wasn’t meant to look hot.”

 

“You think Jeno’s still breathing?” Donghyuck mutters back. He glances at said boy, and Jeno looked like he was about to collapse on the spot.

 

“As expected of Na Jaemin!”  Mark crows. He claps his hands as applause and Jaemin takes a short bow.

 

“So? Not bad right?” Jaemin grins, ruffling his hair with his hand. Jeno makes a soft pained noise and sinks further down into his seat.

 

“Everybody say ‘thank you Jisung’ for suggesting this colour!” Jisung says loudly. No one bothers to respond, except for Jeno who quietly whispers ‘thank you Jisung’.

 

“Honestly Nana, not gonna lie you look hot as fuck,” Donghyuck admits. Jaemin’s grin grows wider and he wiggles his eyebrows. “But I think you’d better save your boyfriend over there before he combusts.”

 

Jaemin strolls over to Jeno, who’s flushed a bright pink.

 

“Babe,” Jaemin whispers. “What do you think?”

 

Jeno makes a dying whale noise at the back of his throat and mutters a tiny ‘you look really hot’. Jaemin laughs good naturedly and pulls him in for a hug, planting a small peck on Jeno’s lips. Jeno whines pitifully as Jaemin pulls away and pulls Jaemin into his lap for a longer kiss.

 

“...and they’re starting to eat each other’s faces that’s our cue to leave!” Donghyuck says hurriedly, getting up from the bench with Mark in tow. Renjun winces and grabs Chenle and Jisung, bringing them out from the salon with him.

 

Jeno and Jaemin follow behind them, faces equally flushed and holding hands. Donghyuck makes a face at them and quickens his pace, much to the amusement of Mark, who’s being dragged along by his hand.

 

Chenle and Jisung walk ahead, whispering excitedly amongst themselves. Renjun trails after them, hands in his pockets. Behind them, Jeno and Jaemin happily hold hands and giggle, pecking each other on the cheek every now and then.

 

Donghyuck intertwines his hand with Mark’s, who nudges him gently with his shoulder. Donghyuck nudges him back.

 

“You’re cute,” He informs Mark, who blushes and bumps his shoulder against Donghyuck in protest. “I love you.”

 

“I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That’s the end!
> 
> I think chensung will be next so yeah. I take forever to update so I can’t promise a given time but look out for it! Thanks for reading until this far!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please leave kudos and comments and tell me what you thought and let me know if there’s typos or anything formatting-wise to improve on!
> 
> Note: that conversation China line have is:  
> Chenle: What are they saying?  
> Renjun: don’t care about those idiots, Lele, they’re talking nonsense
> 
> I thought I’d just explain that in case you were wondering.
> 
> Look out for the next bonus part!
> 
> Love you <3


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